Graphic Design
Clean, custom artwork for your website and your advertising will generate more traffic and help you to convert more sales.
This is one of the most important yet overlooked aspects of many companies today. Think of all the websites, billboards, and business cards you have ever seen … which ones stand out in your mind? Do you remember the ones with only plain text or the ones that were image-driven, crisp, clean, and current?
I offer creative and custom designs for your company image. From logo design to website buttons, website graphics, digital artwork, online banners, website design, print artwork, photography, digital media, and more.
The fact is … the better your website looks and the better your advertising looks the more likely a customer is to be to spend money with your company. If your images are crisp, fresh, current, and engaging then you are more likely to earn that customers trust. Customers will not purchase from an online business if they do not feel secure when on the site.
This is also true for your business products (business cards, stationary, envelopes, etc…). How many times have you been to a website or been given a business card that simply turned you off. No matter how amazing that business may have been you were immediately turned away because they offered you a subpar first impression. First impressions … need I say more?
When you visit a website what is the first thing you notice … a bunch of 'boring' words or engaging images and graphics?
Websites lose more customers on the initial home page visit than nearly any other page of their website.
Once a customer arrives at your site they will form an initial impression within the first 3 seconds. If you can influence or control their impression why wouldn’t you? It does not serve your company to spend time, effort, and money to get customers to your site if you lose them immediately once they arrive.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Improves your websites ranking, over time, within the search engines so your customers can more easily find your business.
Would you rather have a storefront on Main Street or a back alley? Where your company shows up on a search result is no different. Is it easier for your customers to find you on page 1 of Google or page 47? The higher you rank the better chance you have of getting customers to your website.
There may be hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of companies just like yours, who offer the same products. So how does a customer know you exist and what influences them to choose your company over another?
Often referred to as SEO, search engine optimization can be broken down into two areas of concentration: 1) onsite optimization and 2) offsite optimization.
This is the ‘behind the scenes’ work that gets your website found and ranked by the search engines. The higher you rank the more easily your customers can find your business. SEO is a complex series of actions that requires a multi-faceted approach for successful results. Onsite and offsite work are both required to gain the most benefit from your efforts.
How do the search engines know you exist? What determines if they rank your website #1 or #983? Ask yourself this question … when you perform a Google search do you click on the first few sites that appear or do you wade thru thousands of results to choose a site that is on page 200? What about page 2? It is proven that most customers choose one of the top three results on the first page 99% of the time and rarely go past the first page. The truth is that there is simply no need. If you can rank well with the search engine you will get more traffic.
For purpose of example, let’s say you own a great website that offers gourmet fish food. You want to sell your fish food to customers all over the world and become a millionaire. In order for customers to purchase your fish food they must first be able to find your website. This is where SEO comes into play. With proper search engine optimization onsite and offsite your potential customers will be able to find your website and you have now earned the chance to earn their business. Let’s hope your site is to their liking and you have the fish food in-stock!
*See SEO vs SEM to learn the differences and advantages of each.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Offers you the ability to instantly increase your visibility (rank) on the search engines when customers search for specific keywords.
Referred to as SEM, search engine marketing is the active process of creating an advertising campaign with the search engines and targeting specific keywords that customer may use when searching for the goods/services offered by your business. Google, Bing, Yahoo, all of the major search engines offer some form of SEM, typically in the format of what is referred to as pay-per-click (ppc). PPC is simply an advertising campaign set up and managed by an individual to target specific keywords.
I will use will be “fish food” example once again. If your company wants to sell fish food online then potential customers need to be able to find your website so they may purchase the fish food from your company. If you have a PPC campaign set up and managed properly then customers will be shown a top-link to your website when they search for “fish food”. If the customer chooses to click on the link to your site you are then billed a pre-determined amount (many times this amount is measured in cents, not dollars). Now you have been charged a fee to get this customer to your site. When they arrive at your site and find it to their liking they may purchase your gourmet fish food and not the other fish food offered by your competition.
The PPC campaign can be set to only reach customers in your local area, or nationally, or even world-wide depending on your desired service area. The key to a successful PPC campaign is knowing what keywords to target in order to lead qualified customers to your site. If your keywords are too generic then you will get traffic but it may not be quality traffic. The ideal customer is one who is ready, willing, and able to make a purchase. The way a customer searches can determine some of these factors.
*See SEO vs SEM to learn the differences and advantages of each.
Search Engine Video Optimization (SEVO)
Very similar to SEO, SEVO offers long-term search engine benefits and higher page rank within the search results. If done properly, SEVO will help to dramatically increase page rank. *May also referred to as VSEO.
Search Engine Video Optimization is a newer but very important aspect of how the search engines see your website. In simple terms, the search engines want to see content rich videos on your website. Why? Becuase customer want to see videos too.
The videos need to be displayed properly, in the proper format, and linked correctly. It is also beneficial if the videos have a related blog that is linked and associated with them.
SEO vs. SEM
SEM differs from SEO in the fact that SEM is a paid service and can grant near instant results whereas SEO is a more long-term, organic approach, and can take time to earn the higher search engine rankings you are after.
SEO can be viewed like a fruit tree. You must pick the type of tree you wish to plant, pick a location, nurture the tree over time to get it to a point where it will yield the fruit you desire. SEM is like a neon sign, as long as you are paying the power bill your customers will see you but as soon as you stop paying your power bill the lights go off. SEO, once achieved is going to be much more cost-effective and will offer long-term rewards.
Once you have achieved a favorable rank with a search engine it is much easier to keep (hold) that rank with minimal effort. Even if you do nothing for weeks or months you may maintain your ranking. SEM information can be altered quickly to meet the needs of a sudden change, a special event, or big sale. SEO information is planted, grown, and nurtured over time, much like the fruit tree.
Once grown it will produce valuable income but it cannot be changed to a different type of tree and it does not become fully grown overnight.
Both SEM and SEO have their advantages and both are considered equally important as they target different consumer types and offer a different set of benefits to your business.
In terms of fish food, the difference is simple. To sell your fish food with SEM you will be charged a pre-determined fee and be given instant ranking in the ‘paid’ section of the search engines. You should have plenty of fish food in-stock and ready to ship. You will sell fish food more quickly but your bottom line will take a hit.
With SEO your fish food will sell but it will take some time and effort to get customers to your site. Do not overstock if the fish food has a limited shelf life. Once you have invested the time and effort to gain a favorable page rank, your SEO work will continue to bring customers to your site, possibly for years to come, and you will not be charged any fees. You fish food profits will shoot thru the roof!
Social Media Campaigns
Help you stay in front of and in touch with your customers while maintaining a positive image for your company.
The most common social media sites are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Myspace, and Linkedin, however, there are many more available. The more sites you are on the better, however, the time it requires to maintain your presence on each becomes an issue. It is best to choose the most popular and most visited sites by your specific customer base.
An active social media presence is crucial. Not only must you have a presence on these sites you must maintain an ongoing and informative status to keep your company fresh in your customer’s mind and maintain a positive image.
Having no presence or having a ‘dead’ (inactive) presence is one in the same. Customers need to know you are connected to their needs and that you are ready and willing to service them. If they see you have a Facebook page but notice that you are never online, never posting any content, and not responding to their inquiries they will view your company in a negative light. This is just as bad, if not worse, than not being on the social sites at all.
Would you rather spend your money with a company you actively see online every week talking with its customers and being easy to contact or would you choose to spend your money with a company who does not appear to be current or care about its customers and is difficult to contact?
If you have a question that needs to be answered or a problem or issue that needs to be resolved and you need to reach a company, who is going to sway you toward them? The answer is obvious. The easier it is for your customers to reach you the more they are going to do so. The more they are in contact with you the more opportunity you will have to offer them your goods and services. The more you offer them the more they will purchase and so on. Over time this relationship may prove to be the lifeblood of your company.
Unfortunately, I do not have any fish food examples to offer in the Social Media realm. Sorry.
Internet / Website Consulting
Offers answers and recommendations to the questions you have. Consulting can help you fine tune your business and run a more efficient company.
If you are able, have the time, and have the means to implement the changes yourself, consulting is a smart choice. Not only will it save you money it will allow you to make the upgrades and changes at your own pace.
I offer consulting for your business via email, phone, chat, or in person. This service provides answers and recommendations to your company without any commitment of design or implementation of other services. This can be cost effective if you plan to do the work yourself or hire a third party company.
When it comes to selling your gourmet fish food you know more about it than anyone else and you offer a better product than your competition, right?
So why do you need me? If you do not have the amount of traffic you would like or if you feel something is missing from your online strategy, maybe I can offer some advice to help you sell more of your fish food and increase your profits.
Online Marketing & Advertising Campaigns
Advertising your business online will reach more of the customers you want.
With an appropriate online marketing campaign you can each your customers through third-party and industry-related websites. This can include banner advertising, forum advertising, and more. This type of marketing/advertising is designed to put your business directly in front of your potential customers when they are online but not on your website.
Let’s go back to the fish food one more time. Customers are online all the time whether they are on your site or not. You potential customer are online reading news, searching forums, blogs, shopping, watching television, and playing games.
We can place targeted advertisements of these other sites that will help bring them to your website so you can sell them the fish food they need. If a potential fish food customer sees the banner ad we placed on a fish lover’s forum he is more likely to click on your advertisement and then be taken to your site. It is that simple.
In addition to the Internet, I can also help advertise your business on billboards, in magazines, in the newspaper, on digital commercials, and more.
I can create artwork and even full advertising campaigns for your billboard ads, magazine ads, newspaper ads, online banners, and digital commercials.
No matter where you need to advertise I can help.
I offer complete solutions for all of your web presence and online needs.